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The theme of appearance in the bluest eye by toni morrison
Search for self and identity in Morrison's the bluest eye
Search for self and identity in Morrison's the bluest eye
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I remember reading one of her books before. The simple cover, the script writing, the picture on the back cover--it all reminded me that this was an author that I adored. The shelves were repleted with thousands of books, but my hand caught the one with a skinny binding. I began to read the book, and I was so absorbed in it that I immediately checked out the book and continued reading it on the streets. The Bluest Eye was Toni Morrison’s first book and her wonderful language style and daring, passionate intake on life were things that defined the importance of books to life.
I love a book with an unique writing style. The metaphors, imagery and multiple perspectives that Morrison utilizes show that any book can be creatively and cleverly written. The first page of the book was childish, but significant to the plot. The first few lines were, “Here is the house. It is green and white. It has a red door. It is very pretty. Here is the family. Mother, Father, Dick, and Jane live in the green-and-white house. They are very happy [...] (1).”The lines were then repeated at the beginning...
Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest explores the dysfunctions and struggles of life for the patients in a matriarch ruled mental hospital. As told by a schizophrenic Native American named Chief Bromden, the novel focuses primarily on Randle McMurphy, a boisterous new patient introduced into the ward, and his constant war with the Big Nurse Ratched, the emasculating authoritarian ruler of the ward. Constricted by the austere ward policy and the callous Big Nurse, the patients are intimidated into passivity. Feeling less like patients and more like inmates of a prison, the men surrender themselves to a life of submissiveness-- until McMurphy arrives. With his defiant, fearless and humorous presence, he instills a certain sense of rebellion within all of the other patients. Before long, McMurphy has the majority of the Acutes on the ward following him and looking to him as though he is a hero. His reputation quickly escalates into something Christ-like as he challenges the nurse repeatedly, showing the other men through his battle and his humor that one must never be afraid to go against an authority that favors conformity and efficiency over individual people and their needs. McMurphy’s ruthless behavior and seemingly unwavering will to protest ward policy and exhaust Nurse Ratched’s placidity not only serves to inspire other characters in the novel, but also brings the Kesey’s central theme into focus: the struggle of the individual against the manipulation of authoritarian conformists. The asylum itself is but a microcosm of society in 1950’s America, therefore the patients represent the individuals within a conformist nation and the Big Nurse is a symbol of the authority and the force of the Combine she represents--all...
Memoirs of a Geisha by Aurthor Golden and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison are two thought provoking books with a unique style of writing. Memoirs of a Geisha has a beautiful poetic grammar which captures readers imagination and brings the story to life. Morrison on the other hand uses combined voices to give varied perspectives with out resorting to authorial intrusion or preaching. Memoirs Of A Geisha and the bluest eye both contain graphic realism combined with a dramatic flair, which is the key as to why both of these books have been a great success.
Although Morrison's, The Bluest Eye, was an incredible book in many respects, I must ultimately disagree strongly with her views on what art should be and the responsibility of the artist. To adopt Morrison's ideals would be to disvalue entire artistic movements and many important works and artists, without regard to their other merits.
Toni Morrison's novel "The Bluest Eye" is a very important novel in literature, because of the many boundaries that were crossed and the painful, serious topics that were brought into light, including racism, gender issues, Black female Subjectivity, and child abuse of many forms. This set of annotated bibliographies are scholarly works of literature that centre around the hot topic of racism in the novel, "The Bluest Eye", and the low self-esteem faced by young African American women, due to white culture. My research was guided by these ideas of racism and loss of self, suffered in the novel, by the main character Pecola Breedlove. This text generates many racial and social-cultural problems, dealing with the lost identity of a young African American woman, due to her obsession with the white way of life, and her wish to have blue eyes, leading to her complete transgression into insanity. For my research, there was no specific parameter set on the range of dates in my research.
Solomon, Barbara H., ed. "Critical Essays on Toni Morrison's Beloved." New York: G.K. Hall & Co. 1998
The cast. Slavery in the civil war and the African American struggle throughout history influences Beloved’s author throughout her works. Born in Lorain, Ohio on February 18, 1931, Chloe Anthony Wofford became one of the most influential and inspiring authors of the century. The second child of four, Chloe was extremely independent and eventually changed her name to Toni. After leaving home, she attended Howard University and Cornell University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and a Master of Arts Degree, respectively. Marrying Harold Morrison in 1958 brought great joy to Morrison, but they divorced in 1964. From that relationship, she was blessed with two beautiful children, Harold and Slade. She often uses her sons’ names in her works, such as Harold’s in Beloved. Morrison has written 7 novels, including The Bluest Eye, Beloved, and her last novel to date, Love. The Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Morrison for Beloved, as well as the Anisfield-Wolf book Award in Race Relations in 1988. Morrison also received the American Book Award in 1988 making Beloved one of her most decorated novels. Breaking many barriers in the art field, the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature was bestowed on Morrison. This established her as the first African American to win the Award. Beloved is her most acknowledged novel across the country, and was rated one of the New York Times best novels of the past 25 years.
I found the book to be easy, exciting reading because the story line was very realistic and easily relatable. This book flowed for me to a point when, at times, it was difficult to put down. Several scenes pleasantly caught me off guard and some were extremely hilarious, namely, the visit to Martha Oldcrow. I found myself really fond of the char...
In the library she would alternate what types of books they would read. Whenever she would read to him she would read in a way that made you cling to every word the author wrote. In times like these, Rodriguez would become engaged in these books. “I sat there and sensed for the very first time some possibility of fellowship between reader and writer, a communication, never intimate like that I heard spoken words at home convey, but nonetheless personal.” (Rodriguez 228). During this part of Rodriguez’s life, his view towards books changed.
Work Cited PageCentury, Douglas. Toni Morrison: Author New York: Chelsea Publishing, 1994Childress, Alice. "Conversations with Toni Morrison" "Conversation with Alice Childress and Toni Morrison" Black Creation Annual. New York: Library of Congress, 1994. Pages 3-9Harris, Trudier. Fiction and Folklore: The Novels of Toni Morrison Knoxville: The university of Tennessee press, 1991Morrison, Toni. Sula. New York: Plume, 1973Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: Plume, 1970Stepto, Robert. "Conversations with Toni Morrison" Intimate Things in Place: A conversation with Toni Morrison. Massachusetts Review. New York: Library of Congress, 1991. Pages 10- 29.
Upon reading The Bluest Eye a second time, I noticed something about the nature of Morrison's prose. The term that I have heard to describe the book most frequently is beautiful. The first chapters strike me as both incredibly realistic, and unbelievably beautiful. The fact that Morrison can give a scene where Claudia is actually throwing up on herself a rosy colored, nostalgic tint, and still manage to convey a sense of realism is a testament to Morrison's skill with words. The language certainly is beautiful, a sort of sensual prose, almost bordering on poetry. I also believe that the style of Morrison's descriptions is a key to understanding the major underlying theme of the novel, which is the association of rac...
“Toni Morrison.” American Women Writers. Taryn Benbow - Pfalzgrat. 2nd ed. of the book.
Throughout Toni Morrison’s controversial debut The Bluest Eye, several characters are entangled in the extremes of human cruelty and desire. A once innocent Pecola arguably receives the most appalling treatment, as not only is she exposed to unrelenting racism and severe domestic abuse, she is also raped and impregnated by her own father, Cholly. By all accounts, Cholly is detestable and unworthy of any kind of sympathy. However, over the course of the novel, as Cholly’s character and life are slowly brought into the light and out of the self-hatred veil, the reader comes to partially understand why Cholly did what he did and what really drives him. By painting this severely flawed yet completely human picture of Cholly, Morrison draws comparison with how Pecola was treated by both of her undesirable parents.
Toni Morrison novel, Beloved originated from a nineteenth-century newspaper article that she read while doing research in 1974. The article was about a runaway slave named Margaret Garner, who had run away with her four small children sometime in 1856 from a plantation in Kentucky. She traveled the Underground Railroad, to Ohio, where she lived with her mother-in-law. When her Kentucky owner arrived in Ohio to take Margaret and the four children back to the plantation, she tried to murder her children and herself. She managed to kill her two year-old daughter and severely injure the remaining three children before she was arrested and jailed.
Throughout this semester we have had to write many types of essays. Although this is a college English class there is still room for improvement. I made much improvement during the semester of the class. I was able to identify my weaknesses. I learned how to make improvements to the areas I was having problems in. Although each essay we did was different I was able to begin with one essay and throughout the semester turn it into two other essays. I was able to change my style of writing to fit the type of audience I was working with. I will continue to work on my writing and keep improving it.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”: A Marxist reading of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye